Eight former police officers convicted of murdering a taxi driver, who was dragged behind a police van in Johannesburg, have been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime.
The men arrested Mido Macia, 27, for a minor traffic violation before he was manhandled and handcuffed behind the police vehicle which drove hundreds of metres down the road. He later died in police custody. Footage of the incident shot by a bystander and uploaded to YouTube caused an international outcry.
The officers faced life imprisonment but Pretoria High Court Judge Bert Bam said their previously unblemished record allowed him to impose the lesser sentence of 15 years. A bystander filmed Mido Macia being dragged behind the police van "The law provides that in the event the court finds substantial and compelling reasons exist justifying a lesser sentence, the court shall impose a lesser sentence," he said.
The lawyer representing Mr Macia's family said they were hoping for a life sentence but accepted Judge Bam's ruling. Jose Nascimento said: "We cannot fault the sentence granted by judge Bam. From an emotional point of view the family would have preferred a life sentence, but we have to divorce emotions from facts, from the interpretation of the law.
"What this case does show us is that our constitution and our law works in South Africa, we have the rule of law."
A family member of one of the former police officers said they were planning to appeal the sentence. Clement Mashigo said: "All the families are (inaudible) now, and we won't be having much to say. But we will just give hope to all our advocate (s) now to go forward or to continue with the appeal as they promised. "But we are totally not happy with the judgement and the sentence that was imposed today."
Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube
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